I'm Her Mother by Lauren North
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 31st October 2024
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
We both say she’s our daughter. But one of us is lying…
My little girl Lola is my whole world. Three years old and so beautiful – all golden curls and dimpled cheeks.
But on our way home from holiday she was stolen, whisked away in the blink of an eye.
I can’t breathe without Lola. I don’t know how to get her back.
The woman who has my daughter is on the run. And she has no intention of bringing Lola home. Because she says she’s her mother.
But that’s impossible, because I’m Lola’s mother.
Though really, I should have known my secrets would come back to haunt me. That this day was always going to come…
Two women claim that Lola belongs to them. Two women with something to hide. Only one is telling the whole truth… Who will you believe?
An absolutely addictive psychological thriller, where no one is who they seem, and you don’t know who to trust until the very last page! Perfect for fans of gripping page-turners like The Housemaid, The Family Across the Street and The Couple at No. 9.
MY THOUGHTS:
We both say she's our daughter...who do you believe...?
I must say, Lauren North has impressed me. This is my fourth read of hers, the first being her first thriller "The Perfect Betrayal" (also published as "The Perfect Son", through another publisher) and I loved it. But then came "My Word Against His" (her first with Bookouture) - deviously brilliant, closely followed by "She Says She's My Daughter" - very clever. And then came along this one. And again, I was both entertained and thrilled in equal measure. Probably the most irritating thing about this book is the interfering mother-in-law and the husband's ridiculous name of Roly. I'm sorry, but I could only see a cross between a Sharpei dog and a rotund figure of a man.
The story itself is so full of twists that you think you have it all figured out (and granted, while you might have some, you won't even be close as to the rest of it!) that you will get whiplash with which the speed everything changes in the blink of an eye. Throughout the entire tale I was unsure who to really believe despite spying the obvious underlying truth. But hold tight, North isn't even close to being finished with this one, and everything you thought you knew you then begin to question. But are they the right questions? You'll have to read the book to find out!
Isobel and Roly are on their way home from Cornwall with their 3 year old daughter Lola when they stop at the motorway services for a bathroom break. And Lola, being at the precocious age of 3, insists on going by herself. That's fine, mum Isobel is only in the cubicle next door. The whole scenario takes something like, what, two minutes? But by the time Isobel comes out of her's, Lola has gone. She's not in the cubicle she'd locked herself in, she's not at the basins, she's not even outside the bathroom waiting for her mother. She has simply vanished.
Isobel is frantic. She races outside to find Roly scrolling through his phone and asks has he seen Lola. That would be a no. So he does what any frantic parent would do. Calls in a favour via a friend who is a DCI at Scotland Yard, knowing he'll track the culprit down and return Lola to them.
Let's backtrack a bit, back to the bathroom. While Isobel is scrolling through her phone in her cubicle, Lola had promptly finished her business and was busy washing her hands at the basin. Enter Emma...with a big bright yellow ducky that Lola had spied on her way to the bathroom with pleas to Isobel to add ducky to her collection of stuffed toys. Emma smiles. Lola smiles. Emma reaches out her hand. Lola hesitates, looks back at the cubicle before the lure of ducky is too much and she takes Emma's hand. In a matter of moments, before Isobel has buttoned up her skinny jeans that Roly loves her in, Emma and Lola have gone.
What ensues is a frantic chase north, south, east, west across the country in a bid to find Lola and return her safely into Isobel and Roly's arms and arrest the person who took her. But the deeper you delve into this story, the more you find that as soon as you peel back one layer, another lays beneath. And so on...and so on...and so on. Just when it seems they are closing in, Emma escapes their claws once again.
But just who is Emma and how does she fit into Isobel and Roly's world? Both women claim to be Lola's mother, but which one of them is telling the truth? Both women have secrets but can you guess what they are? Even Roly has secrets as does his horrible mother Margaret who thinks only of the Huntingdon name and the fact that Lola is "her grandchild" rather than Isobel's daughter.
You'll need to suspend reality a bit but that's OK; if the story's entertaining and thrilling enough, then how believable it is or isn't doesn't matter. For me, it's all about the entertainment factor and how much the author draws you into the world within those pages making it an easy read and without being convoluted. If they can do that, and keep me thrilled along the way, then you can pretty much guarantee 5 stars from me.
Overall, a thoroughly entertaining, intriguing thrill ride that is twisty and intense from the first page. Plenty of red herrings in this one to keep you guessing all the way through. I doubt you will see the outcome before its reveal. I think most psychological thrillers will like this one!
I would like to thank #LaurenNorth, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #ImHerMother in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Lauren studied psychology before moving to London where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside.
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